Battle for Azeroth Warlock Class Changes

By Anshlun Updated: 2018/07/03

legendary effects and artifact traitsazerite traitsadded to the GCDWar ModeLegionBattle for Azeroth

Arcane Torrent and Every Man for Himself changed.
Two of the strongest racial effects have received changes in BfA, with Arcane Torrent receiving a new effect and added to the GCD and Will to Survive having its cooldown increased.

The majority of class cooldowns have been added to the GCD

Abilities that are in the Global Cooldown, or GCD, cannot be used at the same time, meaning you must wait for the default GCD, 1.5s reduced by haste, until you can use your next ability.

Before BfA, many abilities were called "off-GCD" as you could two or more of them at the same time, even in the same button macro. For BfA, Blizzard started to reduce to amount of abilities in this state.

Battle for Azeroth has a huge stat and ilvl squish.

Battle for Azeroth implements the second stat squish for World of Warcraft, two expansions after the Warlords of Draenor Squish.

Unlike Warlords, Battle for Azeroth will also have an item level squish, changing the item level previously found on classic items as well.

26970 Class Changes - July 2nd

26936 Class Changes - June 27th

26926 Class Changes - June 26th

26903 Class Changes - June 22nd

26871 Class Changes - June 19th

26812 Class Changes - June 12th

26788 Class Changes - June 9th

26734 Class Changes - May 31st

26707 Class Changes - May 24th

26624 Class Changes - May 15th

26567 Class Changes - May 8th

26522 Class Changes - April 30th

26476 Class Changes - Apr 20th

26433 Class Changes - Apr 13th

26367 Class Changes - Apr 3rd

26031 Class Changes - Mar 27th

26287 Class Changes - Mar 22nd

26231 Class Changes - Mar 14th

26175 Class Changes - Mar 6th

26131 Class Changes - Feb 27th

26095 Class Changes - Feb 22nd

26032 Class Changes - Feb 13th

26010 Class Changes - Feb 9th

25976 Class Changes - Feb 6th

25902 Class Changes - Jan 25th

Check out all Battle for Azeroth changes for every class and specialization!

Dark Soul: Misery 1.5s GCD

Cataclysm 1.5s GCD

Dark Soul: Instability 1.5s GCD

Community OpinionsCommunity Opinion - State of WarlocksDirect Blizzard Feedback

Blizzard

Before going into some individual points of feedback, I wanted to state that there have been several version of Affliction over the years, and even in this thread people have different opinions on what version they like, and what parts they don't. In general, almost everything has pros and cons, and it's good to think and weigh those pros and cons when discussing which direction to take Affliction (or any spec) in the future.

Shadow Bolt/Drain Life vs. Drain Soul

This is one of the big debates about Affliction so far. Drain Soul was removed and replaced by both Shadow Bolt and Drain Life. Shadow Bolt functions as the primary damage filler, while Drain Life serves as a high healing, but low damage channel.

Drain Soul was one of the strongest fillers in the game in Legion. With all the artifact passives and damage modifiers it gave along with stackable Unstable Affliction, it did an insane amount of damage and healing. It does not particularly come as a surprise to me that Blizzard wanted to tone down the strength of Affliction, but I will say this:

Shadow Bolt feels very empty. I liked having it in the past and I was sad to see it go when it did, but without having Nightfall selected (I will discuss this more in the talents section) it is very uninspired and does not feel good when combined with having to stack Unstable Affliction, in my humble opinion.

I'm not sure there really has been that much discussion on how the rotation as a whole "feels". Mostly people have been complaining that they dislike Shadow Bolt for a variety of reasons (though technically it doesn't really change much about the rotation), and discussing shard generation rates.

You've said that the Affliction rotation is "mechanically boring", but it's actually a step up from live (as Shadow Bolt—like it or not—requires more interaction and timing than Drain Soul), so I'm not sure I understand this complaint.

I don't mean to come across as snarky; just tossing in my own two cents' worth.

Drain SoulShadow BoltDrain SoulShadow BoltShadow BoltDrain SoulDrain SoulDrain SoulShadow BoltSoul ShardsShadow BoltDrain LifeDrain SoulDrain SoulShadow Bolt

I don't understand why we still have Unstable Affliction stacking as our primary Soul Shards spender

Soul ShardsUnstable AfflictionUnstable AfflictionSoul ShardsUnstable AfflictionSeed of CorruptionUnstable AfflictionUnstable AfflictionSoul ShardsAgonyUnstable AfflictionContagionUnstable AfflictionUnstable AfflictionSoul ShardsUnstable Affliction

The Drain Soul mechanic which incorporated self healing into base rotation really needed to go.

Drain SoulDrain LifeDrain SoulDrain LifeDrain SoulDrain LifeDrain Life

Grimoire of Sacrifice and Seduction combination is still putting us in a 30 sec channeling window in which we are doing absolutely zero dps, and we can't do anything or even move, or else the CC breaks. I don't see any situation where this can even be remotely useful.

Command DemonWhiplashWarlockGrimoire of SacrificeSuccubusCommand Demon

Doomguard and Infernal - Gone. Seriously, damage cooldowns, give us something baseline.

3 min cooldown, costs 1 Soul Shards

Summons a Darkglare from the Twisting Nether that extends the duration of your damage over time effects on all enemies by 8 sec. The Darkglare will serve you for 20 sec, blasting its target for Shadow damage, increased by 10% for every damage over time effect you have active on any target.

Darkglare

Having to cast several Unstable Afflictions feels like a waste of time when we have to start refreshing shortly after and throw in Shadow Bolts between all of that. Multi-dotting doesn't feel terrible on beta because it obviously has rewarding damage, but single target feels weak and overly tedious.

I don't know what else to say about it. It felt okay in Legion because it was highly rewarding to stack Unstable Affliction. Perhaps Azerite Armor will make it feel better but right now it feels like garbage.

Unstable Affliction

They clearly had Deathbolt working with Unstable Affliction stacks in mind, but... I want Agony fresh at full stacks, I want Corruption fresh, I want Siphon Life fresh, I want several Unstable Afflictions up, but no matter what I'm just not satisfied when I fire off that Deathbolt because it feels like there is too much to manage.

I'm sure when it's time to theorycraft we will know exactly the best setup for a Deathbolt to get the most efficiency and damage, but it might still not be a fun rotation.

DeathboltUnstable AfflictionDeathboltDeathboltDeathboltDeathboltDeathboltDeathboltSummon Darkglare

Dark Soul: Misery is coming back as a talent (similar to Destruction's Dark Soul talent), granting 30% haste for 20 sec n a 2 min cooldown

New 15-sec cooldown Soul Shards spender AOE damage talent that also snares, replacing Soul Harvest

Blizzard

We're going to swap Haunt (was lvl 15, now lvl 90) with Deathbolt (was lvl 90, now lvl 15) in the talent tree in the next build. This fulfills a desire (mentioned several times here) to be able to play a Nightfall + Haunt or Drain Soul + Haunt build, which a lot of players think is fun (and is fair feedback).

The reason we made the last round of talent swaps, which saw Nightfall and Drain Soul move to level 15, and Shadow Embrace and Haunt move to level 90, was to satisfy a different desire (as players mentioned even in this thread) to allow Drain Soul and Grimoire of Sacrifice to be taken together, as both are identity, feel, and greatly gameplay changing. That also seemed reasonable.

Separately, that also had the benefit of allowing Nightfall and Drain Soul to be acquirable earlier at lvl 15, since they are both great leveling talents and good to have early.

To make room for Nightfall and Drain Soul on the lvl 15 row, we chose to move Shadow Embrace and Deathbolt together (as opposed to Shadow Embrace and Haunt) because Shadow Embrace and Haunt are pretty similar - they both provide a damage taken debuff with or near 100% uptime. That's still true, but it seems better overall to live with that, look for opportunities to improve/replace Shadow Embrace in the future, and support a Nightfall + Haunt build.

So the new layout looks like:
Row 15: Nightfall, Drain Soul, Deathbolt
Row 90: Shadow Embrace, Haunt, Grimoire of Sacrifice

On the topic of talent tree layouts in general for all specs - it's always a list of competing, sometimes contradictory desires, all of which are valid to some varying degrees:

"All talents on a row should be equal"
"Some talents should better in some situations"
"Talents on the same row shouldn't clearly be better in single target or AOE vs other talents on the same row"
"Difficult to use talents should be a little more rewarding than easy to use talents"
"Talents shouldn't be too similar to each other"
"Players should be allowed to pick whatever talent they find the most fun"
"The strongest talent should probably be the most fun one"

And so on. It's often not possible to satisfy all requirements, so it becomes sort of finding the best configuration that satisfies as many desires as possible, and iterating on improvements for the future.

As usual, we're always open to feedback.

Warlock Spell Changes

Class Tools

Affliction

Talents

Demonology

Talents

Destruction

Talents

Affliction Warlock Apply Aura: Modifies Damage/Healing Done by 14% 32%.

REMOVED Shadow Bite Your Felhunter's Shadow Bite deals 50% increased damage for each of your Affliction damage over time effects on the target.

NEWSummon Darkglare Summons a Darkglarefrom the Twisting Nether that extends the duration of your damage over time effects on all enemies by 8 sec.
The Darkglare will serve you for 20 sec, blasting its target for (40% of Spell power) Shadow damage, increased by 10% for every damage over time effect you have active on any target.

Agony Inflicts increasing agony on the target, causing up to 31.86%7.2% of Spell power) * 6] Shadow damage over 18 sec. Damage starts low and increases over the duration. Refreshing Agony maintains its current damage level.
Agony damage sometimes generates 1 Soul Shard.
Cost changed from 3.0% of base mana to 1.0% of base mana

Corruption Corrupts the target, causing (226.8%63% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 14 sec.
Cost changed from 3.0% of base mana to 1.0% of base mana

Life Tap Restores 30% of your maximum manaGrants 1 Soul Shard at the cost of 10%15% of your maximum health.
Now available to all specs
Now requires Level 20, up from 8
Cooldown changed from None to 30 sec recharge
Charges changed from None to 3 Charges

Mastery: Potent Afflictions Increases damage done by Agony, Corruption, Siphon Life, Phantom Singularity, Vile Taint, and Unstable Affliction by 25%)20.0%.

Seed of Corruption Embeds a demon seed in the enemy target that will explode after 18 sec, dealing (172%12 sec, dealing (20% of Spell power) Shadow damage to all enemies within 10 yards and applying Corruption to them.
The seed will detonate early if the target is hit by other detonations, or takes (Spell power * 30050 / 100) damage from your spells.

Shadow Bolt Sends a shadowy bolt at the enemy, causing (160%30% of Spell power) Shadow damage.
Cost changed from 6.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana

Unstable Affliction Afflicts the target with (370.8%64% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 8 sec. You may afflict a target with up to 5 Unstable Afflictions at once.
If dispelled, deals You deal 10% increased damage to targets affected by your Unstable Affliction.
If dispelled, deals of Spell power) * 400 / 100] damage to the dispeller and silences them for 4 sec.
Affliction (Level 26)
Refunds 1 Soul Shard if the target dies while afflicted.

Live

BFA

Removed

REMOVED Contagion You deal 15%10% increased damage to targets affected by your Unstable Affliction.

REMOVED Death's Embrace Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Seed of Corruption, and Shadow Bolt deal up to 50%40% increased damage on targets below 35% health. Damage increase is higher against lower health targets.

REMOVED Empowered Life Tap Life Tap increases your damage dealt by 10% for 20 sec.

REMOVED Grimoire of Service Summons a second demon which fights for you for 25 sec and deals 100% increased damage. 1.5 min cooldown. The demon will immediately use one of its special abilities when summoned:

REMOVED Howl of Terror Let loose a terrifying howl, causing 5 enemies within 10 yds to flee in fear, disorienting them for 20 sec. Damage may cancel the effect.

REMOVED Malefic Grasp While channeling Drain Soul, your damage over time effects deal 25%20% increased damage to the target.

REMOVED Soul Harvest Increases your damage and your pets' damage by 20%. Lasts 12 sec, increased by 4 sec for each target afflicted by your Agony up to a maximum of 36 sec.

New

NEW Creeping Death Your Agony, Corruption, Siphon Life, and Unstable Affliction deal their full damage 15% faster.
Tier 7 Talent
Inspired by the legendary Hood of Eternal Disdain

NEW Dark Soul: Misery Infuses your soul with the misery of fallen foes, increasing haste by 30% for 20 sec.
Tier 7 Talent

NEW Deathbolt Launches a bolt of death at the target, dealing 40% of the total remaining damage of your damage over time effects on the target.
Tier 1 Talent

NEW Shadow Embrace Drain Soul, Shadow Bolt applies Shadow Embrace, increasing your damage dealt to the target by 3% for 10 sec. Stacks up to 3 times.
Tier 6 Talent

NEW Vile Taint Unleashes a vile explosion at the target location, dealing (75% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 10 sec to all enemies within 10 yds and reducing their movement speed by 30%.
Tier 4 Talent

Changed

Absolute Corruption Corruption is now permanent and deals 25% increased damage. Duration15% increased damage.
Duration reduced to 24 sec against players.

Drain Soul Drains the target's soul, causing (90%75% of Spell power) Shadow damage over 5 sec.
Damage is increased by 100% against enemies below 20% health.
Generates 1 Soul Shard if the target dies during this effect.
Tier 1 Talent

Grimoire of Sacrifice SacrificeSacrifices your demon pet for power, gaining its command demon ability, and 15% increased damage done.
Lasts 1 hour or until you summon a demon pet.causing your spells to sometimes also deal (35% of Spell power) additional Shadow damage.
Lasts 1 hour or until you summon a demon pet.

Haunt A ghostly soul haunts the target, dealing (500%55% of Spell power) Shadow damage and increasing your damage dealt to the target by 15% for 10 sec. If10% for 15 sec.
If the target dies, Haunt's cooldown is reset.
Tier 6 Talent, cost changed from 5.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana, cooldown changed from 25 sec to 15 sec cooldown

Nightfall Corruption damage has a chance to cause your next Shadow Bolt to be instant and deal 25% increased damage.
Tier 1 Talent

Phantom Singularity Places a phantom singularity above the target, which consumes the life of all enemies within 15 yards, dealing 180%18% of Spell power)] damage over 16 sec, healing you for 20%25% of the damage done.
Cooldown changed from 40 sec to 45 sec

Siphon Life Siphons the target's life essence, dealing 25 Shadow damage over 15 sec and healing you for 60%30% of the damage done.
Tier 2 Talent

Sow the Seeds Seed of Corruption will now embednow embeds a demon seed in 2 additional nearby enemies.into 1 additional nearby enemy.

Writhe in Agony Agony's damage may now ramp up to 15 stacks.
Tier 2 Talent

Bane of Fragility Reduces the target's maximum health by 20%up to 15% for 10 sec.

Essence Drain Whenever you heal yourself with Drain Soul/DrainDrain Life, the enemy target deals 5% reduced damage to you for 6 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.

Nether Ward Surrounds the caster with a shield that lasts 53 sec, reflecting all harmful spells cast on you.

Rot and Decay Each time your Drain SoulLife deals damage, it increases the duration of your Unstable Affliction, Corruption and Agony on the target by 1 sec.

Consumes all of your damage over time effects on the 5 nearest enemies within 40 yards, dealing up to 10% of their totalmaximum health in Shadow damage.
For each enemy hit by Soulshatter, you gain 1 Soul Shard and 10% Haste for 8 sec.

NEW Cascading Calamity Casting Unstable Affliction on a target affected by your Unstable Affliction increases your Haste by 5 for 15 sec

NEW Dreadful Calling Unstable Affliction deals 68 additional damage, and casting Unstable Affliction reduce the cooldown of Summon Darkglare by 1 sec.

NEW Inevitable Demise Damaging an enemy with Corruption increases the damage of your next Drain Life by 4. This effect stacks up to 100 times.

NEW Sudden Onset Agony deals up to an additional 54 damage and starts with 4 stacks.

NEW Wracking Brilliance Every other Soul Shard your Agony generates also increases your Intellect by 50 for 6 sec.

Demonology Warlock Apply Aura: Modifies Damage/Healing Done by 0% 5%.

REMOVEDDemonic Empowerment Empowers your active demons with dark energies, increasing their haste by 50% and health by 20%

REMOVED Demonwrath Causes your demons to crackle with demonic energy, dealing 34.5%7% of Spell power)] Shadow damage to all enemies within 10 yds of any of your demons over 3 sec. Castable while moving.
Demonwrath damage has a 15% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard.
Cost changed from 0.0% of base mana, plus 2.5% per second to 0.0% of base mana, plus 1.0% per second

NEW Summon Demonic Tyrant Summon a Demonic Tyrant to increase the duration of all of your current demons by 15.0 sec, and increase the damage of all of your other demons by 15%, while damaging your target.

NEW Implosion Demonic forces suck all of your Wild Imps toward the target, and then cause them to violently explode, dealing (32.5% of Spell power) Shadowflame damage to all enemies within 8 yards.
Now baseline

NEW Imp Swarm Summon 5 Wild Imps around you.

NEW Demonic Core When your Wild Imps expend all of their energy or are imploded, you have a 10% chance to absorb their life essence, granting you a stack of Demonic Core.
When your summoned Dreadstalkers fade away, you have a 100% chance to absorb their life essence, granting you a stack of Demonic Core.
Demonic Core reduces the cast time of Demonbolt by 100%. Maximum 4 stacks.

NEW Demonbolt Send the fiery soul of a fallen demon at the enemy, causing (58% of Spell power) Shadowflame damage.
Generates 2 Soul Shards.

Call Dreadstalkers Summons 2 ferocious Dreadstalkers to attack the target for 12 sec.
Cooldown changed from 15 sec cooldown to 20 sec cooldown

Drain Life Drains life from the target, causing 25 Shadow damage over 65 sec, and healing you for 600%500% of the damage done.

Hand of Gul'dan Calls down a demonic meteor full of Wild Imps which burst forth to attack the target.
Deals up to 43 * (120%25% of Spell power)] Shadowflame damage on impact to all enemies within 8 yds of the target and summons up to 43 Wild Imps, based on Soul Shards consumed.
Cost changed from 0.0% of base mana, plus 3.0% per second to 0.0% of base mana, plus 1.0% per second

Mastery: Master Demonologist Demonic Empowerment also Increases the damage ofdone by your demons by 14.4%14.0%.

Shadow Bolt Sends a shadowy bolt at the enemy, causing (125%30% of Spell power) Shadow damage. Generates 1 Soul Shard.
Cost changed from 6.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana

Live

BFA

Removed

REMOVED Shadowfury Stuns all enemies within 8 yds for 43 sec.
Now baseline
Range changed from 30 yd range to 35 yd range
Cooldown changed from 30 sec cooldown to 1 min cooldown

REMOVED Grimoire of Supremacy You are able to maintain control over even greater demons indefinitely, allowing you to summon a Doomguard or Infernal as a permanent pet.

REMOVED Hand of Doom Hand of Gul'dan now also applies Doom to all enemies it hits.

REMOVED Impending Doom Hand of Gul'dan now also applies Doom to all enemies it hits.

REMOVED Implosion Demonic forces suck all of your Wild Imps toward the target, and then cause them to violently explode, dealing (50% of Spell power) Shadowflame damage to all enemies within 8 yards.
If the explosion hits 3 or more enemies, you have a 50% chance to generate a Soul Shard.
Now baseline

REMOVED Improved Dreadstalkers Call Dreadstalkers now also summons 2 Wild Imp.

REMOVED Draws energy from your demons and launches a ball of demonic energy at the target, dealing (31.25% of Spell power) Chaos damage. Damage increased 10% for each demon you have active.
Generates 1 Soul Shard.

REMOVED Power Trip Demonic Empowerment has a 65% chance to generate 1 Soul Shard when used in combat.

REMOVED Shadowflame Lobs a ball of Shadowflame at the target, dealing (27.5% of Spell power) Shadowflame damage immediately, and another (38.5% of Spell power) Shadowflame damage over 8 sec, stacking up to 3 times.
Generates 1 Soul Shard.

REMOVED Shadowy Inspiration Demonic Empowerment also causes your next Shadow Bolt to be Instant.

REMOVED Soul Harvest Increases your damage and your pets' damage by 20%. Lasts 4 sec, increased by 6 sec for each target afflicted by your Doom up to a maximum of 36 sec.

REMOVED Summon Darkglare Summons a Darkglare from the Twisting Nether that extends the duration of your damage over time effects on all enemies by 8 sec.
The Darkglare will serve you for 20 sec, blasting its target for (40% of Spell power) Shadow damage, increased by 10% for every damage over time effect you have active on any target.

New

NEW Grimoire: Felguard Summons a Felguard who attacks the target for 15 sec that deals 50% increased damage.
This Felguard will stun their target when summoned.
Tier 6 Talent

NEW Curse of Doom Inflicts impending doom upon the target, causing (160% of Spell power) Shadow damage after 30 sec.
If Doom kills the target, there is a 5% chance to summon a Doomguard to fight for you for 25 sec.
Generates 1 Soul Shard when dealing damage.
Tier 2 Talent

NEW Soul Strike Command your Felguard to strike into the soul of its enemy, dealing Shadow damage.
Demonology
Generates 1 Soul Shard.
Tier 4 Talent

NEW Dreadlash When your Dreadstalkers charge into battle, their Dreadbite attack now hits all targets within 8 yards and deals 25% more damage.
Tier 1 Talent

NEW Summon Vilefiend Summon a Vilefiend to fight for you for the next 15 sec.
Tier 4 Talent

NEW Power Siphon Instantly sacrifice up to 2 Wild Imps to generate 2 charges of Demonic Core.
Tier 2 Talent

NEW Bilescourge Bombers Tear open a portal to the nether above the target location, from which several Bilescourge will pour out of and crash into the ground over 6 sec, dealing (10% of Spell power) Shadow damage to all enemies within 8 yards.
Tier 1 Talent

NEW Demonic Strength Infuse your Felguard with demonic strength and command it to charge your target and unleash a Felstorm that will deal 400% increased damage.
Tier 1 Talent

NEW Wicked Maw Casting Call Dreadstalkers causes the target to take 20% additional Shadowflame damage from you for the next 12 sec.
Tier 4 Talent

NEW Demonic Consumption Your Demonic Tyrant now destroys and absorbs the remaining power of all of your Wild Imps to empower himself.
Tier 7 Talent

NEW Inner Demons You passively summon a Wild Imp to fight for you every 12 sec, and have a 10% chance to also summon an additional Demon to fight for you for 15 sec.
Tier 6 Talent

NEW Nether Portal Tear open a portal to the Twisting Nether for 20 sec. Every time you spend Soul Shards, you will also command demons from the Nether to come out and fight for you.
Tier 7 Talent

NEW Sacrificed Souls hadow Bolt and Demonbolt deal 5% additional damage per demon you have summoned.
Tier 7 Talent

Changed

Demonic Calling Shadowbolt and Demonbolt have a 20% chance, and Demonwrath has a 5% chance on each target, to make your next Call Dreadstalkers cost no1 less Soul Shard and have no cast time.

Soul Conduit Every Soul Shard you spend has a 20%15% chance to be refunded.
Tier 6 Talent

Call Fel Lord Summon a fel lord to guard the location for 15 sec. Any enemy that comes within 6 yards will suffer high damage andup to 5% of their maximum health in damage, and players struck will be stunned for 1 sec.

Call Observer Summons a demonic Observer to keep a watchful eye over the area for 20 sec.
Anytime an enemy within 20 yards casts a harmful magical spell, the Observer will instantly dealdeal up to 5% of the target's totalmaxiumum health in Shadow damage.

Bane of Fragility Reduces the target's maximum health by 20%up to 15% for 10 sec.

Nether Ward Surrounds the caster with a shield that lasts 53 sec, reflecting all harmful spells cast on you.

Call Felhunter Summons a demonic FelhunterInvoke the power of Felhunter from the nether to instantly Spell Lock the enemy target. Call Felhunter cannot be used if your current pet is a Felhunter.
Spell Lock
Counters the enemy's spellcast, preventing any spell from that school of magic from being cast for 6 sec.

Essence Drain Whenever you heal yourself with Drain Soul/DrainDrain Life, the enemy target deals 5% reduced damage to you for 6 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.

Excoriate When you gain Demonic Core, the damage of your next Demonbolt is increased by 208

NEW Demonic Meteor Hand of Gul'dan deals 15 additional damage and has a 5% chance per Soul Shard spent of refunding a Soul Shard.

NEW Explosive Potential When your Implosion consumes 3 or more Imps, gain 31 Haste for 6 sec.

NEW Forbidden Knowledge Call Dreadstalkers has a 30% chance to make your next non-instant Demonbolt deal 743 additional damage.

Meteoric Flare Hand of Gul'dan has a 5% chance to refund a Soul Shard when it hits a target, and deals an additional 69 damage.
Demonology

NEW Shadow's Bite When your summoned Dreadstalkers fade away, they increase the damage of your Demonbolt by 47 for 8 sec.

NEW Supreme Commander When your Demonic Tyrant expires, consume its life essence, granting you a stack of Demonic Core and increasing your Intellect by 92 for 15 sec.

NEW Umbral Blaze Your Hand of Guldan has a 15% chance to burn its target for 193 additional Shadowflame damage every 2 sec for 6 sec.

Destruction Warlock Apply Aura: Modifies Damage/Healing Done by 15%-8%.

REMOVED Unending Resolve Rank 2 Unending Resolve's cooldown is reduced by 90 sec.

NEW Backdraft Conflagrate reduces the cast time of your next two Incinerates or Chaos Bolts by 30%.Incinerate or Chaos Bolt by 30%.
Now baseline

Chaos Bolt Unleashes a devastating blast of chaos, dealing a critical strike for 560%120% of Spell power)] Chaos damage. Damage is further increased by your critical strike chance.

Conflagrate Triggers an explosion on the target, dealing (75%90% of Spell power) Fire damage. Generates 5 Soul Shard Fragments.
Destruction (Level 25): Reduces the cast time of your next two Incinerates or Chaos BoltsIncinerate or Chaos Bolt by 30% for 10 sec
Generates 5 Soul Shard Fragments.

Drain Life Drains life from the target, causing 25 Shadow damage over 65 sec, and healing you for 600%500% of the damage done.

Havoc Marks a target with Havoc for 10 sec, causing your single target spells to also strike the Havoc victim for 75% of normal initial damage. Limit 1.
Cost changed from 8.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana
Cooldown changed from 45 sec cooldown to 25 sec cooldown

Immolate Burns the enemy, causing (133.2%40% of Spell power) Fire damage immediately and an additional (432.9%150% of Spell power) Fire damage over 18 sec.
Periodic damage generates 1 Soul Shard Fragment and has a 50% chance to generate an additional 1 on critical strikes.
Cost changed from 6.0% of base mana to 1.5% of base mana

Incinerate Draws fire toward the enemy, dealing (233.1%58.275% of Spell power) Fire damage.
Generates 2 Soul Shard Fragments and an additional 1 on critical strikes.
Cost changed from 5.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana

Life Tap Restores 30% of your maximum manaGrants 1 Soul Shard at the cost of 10%15% of your maximum health.
Now available to all specs
Cooldown changed from None to 30 sec recharge
Charges changed from None to 3 Charges

Rain of Fire Calls down a rain of hellfire, dealing 80%16% of Spell power) * 8] Fire damage over 8 sec to enemies in the area.

Shadow Bolt Sends a shadowy bolt at the enemy, causing (125%30% of Spell power) Shadow damage.
Cost changed from 6.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana

Summon Infernal Summons an Infernal from the Twisting Nether, impacting for (100% of Spell power)3 Fire damage and stunning all enemy targetsenemies in the area for 2 sec. Thesec.
The Infernal will serve you for 25 sec, dealing strong area-of-effect damage.30 sec, dealing (50% of Spell power) damage to all nearby enemies every 2 sec and generating 1 Soul Shard Fragment every 0.5 sec.
Now Demonology only, cost changed from 1 Soul Shard to 2.0% of base mana

Live

BFA

Removed

REMOVED Empowered Life Tap Life Tap increases your damage dealt by 10% for 20 sec.

REMOVED Backdraft Casting Conflagrate reduces the cast time of your next two Incinerates or Chaos Bolts by 30%.
Now baseline

REMOVED Grimoire of Synergy Damage done by you or your demon has a chance to grant the other one 10% increased damage for 15 sec.

REMOVED Hellfire Engulfs the surrounding area in hellfire, causing (40% of Spell power) Fire damage to yourself, and (40% of Spell power) Fire damage to all nearby enemies every 1 sec.
You may move while channeling Hellfire.
Costs 4 Soul Shard Fragments per sec.

REMOVED Wreak Havoc Reduces the cooldown of Havoc by 20 sec.

REMOVED Shadowfury Stuns all enemies within 8 yds for 43 sec.
Now baseline
Range changed from 30 yd range to 35 yd range
Cooldown changed from 30 sec cooldown to 1 min cooldown

REMOVED Soul Harvest Destruction: Increases your damage and your pets' damage by 20%. Lasts 4 sec, increased by 6 sec for each target afflicted by your Immolate up to a maximum of 36 sec.

New

NEW Hellfire Engulfs the surrounding area in hellfire, causing (40% of Spell power) Fire damage to yourself, and (40% of Spell power) Fire damage to all nearby enemies every 1 sec. You may move while channeling Hellfire. Costs 4 Soul Shard Fragments per sec.
Tier 4 Talent

NEW Flashover Conflagrate deals 25% increased damage and grants an additional charge of Backdraft.
Tier 1 Talent

NEW Rain of Fire damage has a 20% chance to generate a Soul Shard Fragment.
Tier 4 Talent

NEW Internal Combustion Chaos Bolt consumes up to 5 sec of Immolate's damage over time effect on your target, instantly dealing that much damage.
Tier 2 Talent

NEW Soul Fire Burns the enemy's soul, dealing (100% of Spell power)] Fire damage.
Cooldown is reduced by 2 sec for every Soul Shard you spend.
Generates 4 Soul Shard Fragments.
Tier 1 Talent

NEW Dark Soul: Instability Infuses your soul with unstable power, increasing your critical strike chance by 30% for 20 sec.
Tier 7 Talent

Swapped Position

Eradication Chaos Bolt increases the damage you deal to the target by 15%10% for 7 sec.
Tier 1 Talent

Roaring Blaze Conflagrate increases your remaining Immolate damage on the target by 25% until Immolate expires or is refreshed.burns the target for an additional (48% of Spell power) Fire damage over 6 sec.
Tier 6 Talent

Shadowburn Blasts a target for (315%60% of Spell power) Shadowflame damage.
Generates 5 Soul Shard Fragments and an additional 5 Soul Shard Fragments If the target dies within 5 sec and yields experience or honor, Shadowburn's cooldown is reset.
Generates 3 Soul Shard Fragments.
Cost changed from 2.0% of base mana to 1.0% of base mana
Charges changed from 1 Charges to 2 Charges
Tier 2 Talent

Changed

Cataclysm Conjures a cataclysm at the target location, dealing (150%180% of Spell power) Shadowflame damage to all enemies within 8 yards and afflicting them with Immolate.

Channel Demonfire Launches 15 bolts of felfire over 3 sec at random targets afflicted by your Immolate within 40 yds. Each bolt deals (50%16% of Spell power) Fire damage to the target and (50%7% of Spell power) Fire damage to nearby enemies.
Cost changed from 4.8% of base mana to 1.5% of base mana

Fire and Brimstone Incinerate now also hits all enemies near your target for 50% damage.40% damage and generates 1 Soul Shard Fragment for each additional enemy hit.

Reverse Entropy Chaos Bolt and Rain of Fire restore 35% of your maximum mana and deal 10% increased damage. Your spells have a chance to grant you 15% Haste for 8 sec.

Rain of Chaos You are able to maintain control over even greater demons indefinitely, allowing you to summon a Doomguard or Infernal as a permanent pet. While you have an Infernal active, every Soul Shard you spend increases the damage of your Chaos Bolt by 8%.

Cremation Your Incinerate automatically applies Immolate, and
Shadowburn, Conflagrate deals up to an additional 3% of the target's maximum health in Fire damage if the target is affected by your Immolate.

Bane of Fragility Reduces the target's maximum health by 20%up to 15% for 10 sec.

Essence Drain Whenever you heal yourself with Drain Soul/DrainDrain Life, the enemy target deals 5% reduced damage to you for 6 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.

Fel Fissure Chaos Bolt creates a 5 yd wide eruption of Felfire under the target, reducing movement speed by 50% and reducing all healing received by 50%25% on all enemies within the fissure. Lasts 6 sec.

Nether Ward Surrounds the caster with a shield that lasts 53 sec, reflecting all harmful spells cast on you.

NEW Accelerant When your Rain of Fire damages 3 or more targets, gain 27 Haste for 8 sec.

NEW Bursting Flare Casting Conflagrate on a target affected by your Immolate increases your Mastery by 7 for 20 sec, stacking up to 5 times.

NEW Chaotic Inferno Chaos Bolt deals 105 additional damage and has a 25% chance to make your next Incinerate instant.

Crashing Chaos Summoning your Infernal increases the damage of your next 8 Chaos Bolts by 57.

NEW Flashpoint When your Immolate deals periodic damage to a target above 80% health, gain 62 Haste for 8 sec.

NEW Rolling Havoc Each time your spells duplicate to a Havoc target, gain 10 Intellect for 10 sec. This effect stacks.

REMOVED Summon Doomguard Summons a Doomguard for 25 sec to assault the target with its Doom Bolts.

REMOVED Unending Breath Allows an ally to breathe underwater and increases swim speed by 20% for 10 min.

Banish Banishes an enemy Demon, Aberration, or Elemental, preventing any action for 30 sec. Limit 1. Casting Banish again on the target will cancel the effect.
Cost changed from 2.5% of base mana to 1.5% of base mana

Command Demon Commands your demon to perform its most powerful ability. This spell will transform based on your active pet.
Imp: Singe Magic
Voidwalker: Suffering
Succubus: Seduction
Felhunter: Spell Lock
Felguard: Felstorm
Doomguard: Shadow Lock
Infernal: Meteor StrikeFelguard: Axe Toss
Felhunter: Spell Lock
Voidwalker: Shadow Bulwark
Succubus: Seduction
Imp: Singe Magic

Create Healthstone Creates a Healthstone that can be consumed to restore 25%25% health.
Cost changed from 5.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana

Create Soulwell Creates a Soulwell for 2 min. Party and raid members can use the Soulwell to acquire a Healthstone.
Cost changed from 10.0% of base mana to 5.0% of base mana

Demonic Gateway Creates a demonic gateway between two locations. Activating the gateway transports the user to the other gateway. Each player can use a Demonic Gateway only once per 1.50 min.
Cost changed from 10.0% of base mana to 20.0% of base mana, Cast Time changed from 3 sec cast to 2 sec cast

Subjugate Demon Enslaves the target demon up to level 57, forcing it to do your bidding for 5 min.
Cost changed from 5.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana

Eye of Kilrogg Summons an Eye of Kilrogg and binds your vision to it. The eye is stealthed and moves quickly but is very fragile.
Cost changed from 4.0% of base mana to 3.0% of base mana

Fear Strikes fear in the enemy, disorienting for 20 sec. Damage may cancel the effect. Limit 1.
Cost changed from 10.0% of base mana to 15.0% of base mana

Ritual of Summoning Begins a ritual to create a summoning portal, requiring the caster and 2 allies to complete. This portal can be used to summon party and raid members.
Cost changed from 4.0% of base mana to 5.0% of base mana

Soul Shards Soul ShardsFragments are generated by somemany of your spells and consumed to cast your most powerful spells and summon demons to serve you.
Soul Shards are consumed to cast your most powerful spells and summon demons to serve you.
While out of combat you regenerate up to 3 Soul Shards.

Soulstone Stores the soul of the target party or raid member, allowing resurrection upon death.
Affliction and Demonology and Destruction (Level 70)
Also castable to resurrect a dead target
Targets resurrect with 100%60% health and 20% mana.

Summon Infernal Summons an Infernal from the Twisting Nether, impacting for (100% of Spell power) Fire damage and stunning all enemy targetsenemies in the area for 2 sec. Thesec.
The Infernal will serve you for 25 sec, dealing strong area-of-effect damage.30 sec, dealing (50% of Spell power) damage to all nearby enemies every 2 sec and generating 1 Soul Shard Fragment every 0.5 sec.
No longer Affliction/Demonology

NEW Shadowfury Stuns all enemies within 8 yds for 43 sec.
Now baseline
Range changed from 30 yd range to 35 yd range
Cooldown changed from 30 sec cooldown to 1 min cooldown

Unending Resolve Hardens your skin, reducing all damage you take by 40% and granting immunity to interrupt and silence effects for 8 sec.
Cost changed from 10.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana

Removed

REMOVED Demonic Circle Summons a Demonic Circle for 15 min. allowing you to cast it againCast Demonic Circle: Teleport to teleport to its location and remove all movement slowing effects.Limit 1.
Changed spell ID

New

NEW Darkfury Reduces the cooldown of Shadowfury by 15 sec.
Tier 5 Talent

NEW Summons a Demonic Circle for 15 min. Cast Demonic Circle: Teleport to teleport to its location and remove all movement slowing effects.
You also learn: Demonic Circle - Teleport
Teleports you to your Demonic Circle and removes all movement slowing effects.
New version

Swapped Positions

Burning Rush Increases your movement speed by 50%, but also damages you for 4% of your maximum health every 1 sec. Movement impairing effects may not reduce you below 100% of normal movement speed. Lasts until cancelled.
Tier 3 Talent

Dark Pact Sacrifices 20% of your current health to shield you for 400%250% of the sacrificed health for 20 sec. Usable while suffering from control impairing effects.
Tier 3 Talent

Demon Skin Your Soul Leech absorption now passively recharges at a rate of 1%0.5% of maximum health every 1 sec, and may now absorb up to 20%15% of maximum health.
Tier 3 Talent

Demonic Circle Summons a Demonic Circle for 15 min, allowing you to cast it again to teleport to its location and remove all movement slowing effects. Limit 1.
Tier 5 Talent
Cost changed from 5.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana

Mortal Coil Horrifies an enemy target into fleeing, incapacitating for 3 sec and healing you for 20% of maximum health.
Tier 5 Talent
Cost changed from 6.0% of base mana to 2.0% of base mana

Changed

Soul Conduit Every Soul Shard you spend has a 20%15% chance to be refunded.

NEW While below 50% health, your Drain Life heals for an additional 77 health each 1 sec.

NEW When you use a Healthstone, gain 88 Leech for 20 sec

Comments

Comment by Yoco

I haven't seen any report on this so, in case some haven't noticed it yet, in the model viewer there is what appears to be the new casting poses for Warlock: LocReadySpellCast, LockSpellCastBothFront, LockSpellPrecastBoth, LockSpellPrecastBothChannel.

Comment by xieth101

It saddens me to see the Grimoire of Supremecy be removed/changed. It was one that I would honestly choose no matter if it was the most ideal or not (minus situations where top DPS is required in group content). I wanted to have an infernal as a permanent pet since vanilla WoW, I finally got it, and now they take it away :(.

Comment by mtb2k

Yet again Blizz has no idea what to do with Demonology. More confusing crap and boring gameplay incoming for Demo. Personally I wish they would just go back to classic Demo or MOP Demo.

Comment by Thoe

And now soul stone resurrects at 60%...

Comment by Yridar

Maybe I overlooked it but they stated in a Q&A that all Lock pets would deal the same amount of damage? Or at least very close to each other so it didn't really matter anymore which pet you took and it was just about utility?

Battle for Azeroth Warlock Class Changes

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